home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Windows Expert
/
Windows Expert.iso
/
editor
/
wingrab.zip
/
GRABDO.ZIP
/
FONTS.COM
/
DOWNLOAD.DOC
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1990-02-23
|
31KB
|
800 lines
DOWNLOAD
Contents
1 SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2 REQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3 FONT CHARACTERISTICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
4 RUNNING DOWNLOAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5 ERROR MESSAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6 COMMON PROBLEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
7 USING DOWNLOAD WITH GRAB . . . . . . . . . . . 7
8 LICENSE AND OTHER INFORMATION . . . . . . . . 10
9 SHAREWARE REGISTRATION FORM . . . . . . . . . 13
i
DOWNLOAD
A Companion Program For Grab Plus
Version 1.8
Copyright 1986 - 1990 by Elfring Soft Fonts
Elfring Soft Fonts
P.O. Box 61
Wasco, IL 60183
708-377-3520
CIS: 72417,3437
1 SUMMARY
DOWNLOAD.EXE is an IBM PC utility program that manages the
process of downloading soft fonts to a LaserJet, DeskJet, or
compatible printers. DOWNLOAD can also select fonts as they are
being sent. DOWNLOAD can send a font, or group of fonts, through
the standard parallel printer MS-DOS devices to your LaserJet or
DeskJet printer. You have optional control over the soft font ID
number, whether the font is permanent or temporary, and whether
it is a primary or secondary font. A list of fonts may be sent
to the printer by specifying the individual fonts names in an
ASCII text file. All fonts resident in your laser may be
optionally deleted before new fonts are downloaded, or you can
reset the printer first.
This package is distributed as shareware and you are expected to
register it if you use it! You may try this package out for a
period not to exceed 21 days. Registration costs $15 and bring
you a number of benefits. See the end of this documentation file
for a registration form.
Elfring Soft Fonts also offers a number of soft fonts and a
memory resident (TSR) version of DOWNLOAD with features you won't
believe. This version finds your soft fonts and presents a list
of them for you.
You can download or select any font on either a laser printer or
a DeskJet. Font memory requirements are shown and the program
keeps track of all fonts that have been sent to your printer.
Finally, you can change printer orientation, character size,
default font, or reset the print.
TSR Download is $35.00 by itself and includes a copy of our Soft
Font Manual, or $65.00 with a set of LaserJet soft fonts, (Helv &
Roman 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 point medium/bold/italic + 18, 24, & 30
point bold), or $75 for TSR Download + DeskJet soft fonts (as
above).
2 REQUIREMENTS
DOWNLOAD requires a minimum of 128K of memory, an HP LaserJet,
DeskJet, or compatible printer, and a parallel port to talk to
the printer. Parallel printer ports LPT1:, LPT2:, LPT3: are
supported by the program.
3 FONT CHARACTERISTICS
All soft fonts have three characteristics associated with them.
Each font must have a unique ID number assigned to it. This lets
- 2 -
you select a soft font through software commands. Each font must
be defined as either temporary or permanent. Temporary fonts are
deleted whenever the LaserJet is reset and are thus not as widely
used as permanent ones since most software that controls the
LaserJet sends a reset command out first, (deleting all temporary
fonts). Finally, a font may be defined as either primary or
secondary. (Note that only one primary and one secondary font
can exist at one time and you don not have to have a primary or
secondary font.)
The LaserJet lets you switch between primary and secondary fonts
with simple control characters. Control-N selects the secondary
font, while control-O selects the primary font. Embedding these
characters in your text file will let you switch between fonts.
Fonts that have ID numbers assigned to them may be selected based
on that ID number. To do this you send an <Esc>(#X to the
printer, where <ESC> stands for the escape key (1BH), and # is
replaced by the ASCII soft font ID number. (To select soft font
ID 15 you would send <Esc>(15X. Finally fonts can be selected by
font metrics. In this method you describe the font. A sample
Times-Roman selection string would be:
<Esc>&l0O<Esc>(0U<Esc>(s1p12v0s0b5T
(12 point, portrait, medium weight, US ASCII, Times-Roman). This
method is too complex to explain here. We do offer an inexpensive
Soft Font Manual that explains everything there is to know about
how to name, use, select, and recognize soft fonts if you want
more information.
The DOWNLOAD program is designed to send soft fonts to the laser
printer and to help you manage all these font characteristics.
You can select the font ID number, and font status at the same
time that you download the font. You can also make list files to
manage the process of sending a number of soft fonts to your
printer at one time. Finally, soft fonts may be archived into a
common file and automatically extracted for downloading.
4 RUNNING DOWNLOAD
DOWNLOAD is easy to use. The only thing you need to remember is
that DOWNLOAD will automatically prompt you with a brief
description of how to use it if you want it to. Simply type
DOWNLOAD followed by a carriage return. The program will print a
short explanation of its operation and options as shown below:
Send soft fonts to a LaserJet or DeskJet printer, V1.8
Copyright 1986, 1987, 1988 1989 by Elfring Soft Fonts
Use ──> download fontname [device ID ─options]
- 3 -
where: everything the between '[]'s is optional and...
fontname = the name of the font to download or the name of a
list of fonts to download preceded by an '@'
character
device = LPT1, LPT2, or LPT3
ID = starting ID number to assign font to (0 ─ 32767)
options = T to make font temporary, P to make font primary S
to make font secondary, Q for quiet operation, D
for delete all fonts prior to downloading, or R to
reset the printer.
When optional arguments are not present, download defaults to:
LPT1, ID = 0, permanent font, and font is NOT selected.
For example:
download he100rpn.usp lpt1: 5 ─tp
download @font.lst ─q
download od300rpn.usp 1000 ─sq LPT2
To run DOWNLOAD you must specify either the name of the soft font
to send to your printer, or the name of a disk file that contains
a list of soft fonts to send to the printer. You can optionally
specify the device to send the file to, LPT1, LPT2, or LPT3. In
addition, you can optionally control the three font attributes,
(ID number, permanent/temporary, primary/secondary), specified
above. To invoke DOWNLOAD type:
download yourfont [port ID# -options]
All items between the "[" and "]" characters are optional. This
means you do not have to include them. Note that the "[" and "]"
characters are not actually used in a command. Also note that
these optional items can be specified in any order. So, to
download a Times-Roman 24 point bold font you would enter:
download tr240bpn.usp
The DOWNLOAD program will find that file, (if it doesn't exist
DOWNLOAD will let you know), and defaults to: printer port LPT1,
soft font ID 0, and permanent status. The font will not be
selected as either primary or secondary. The screen will look as
follows:
Send soft fonts to a LaserJet or DeskJet printer, V1.8
Copyright 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 by Elfring Soft Fonts
Sending font tr240bpn.usp with ID 0, 12427 bytes
Sent 1 file, with a total of 12427 bytes.
A more complicated command might involve using a different
printer port and assigning a soft font ID number. For example:
- 4 -
download tr100bpn.usp 1000 lpt2 ─s
sends the bold faced Times─Roman font to the LaserJet via LPT2:
and assigns it font ID 1000, permanent and secondary status. The
secondary status lets you select this font in a document by
embedding a control─N, (you can change back to your primary font
with a control─O).
DOWNLOAD is capable of using a list of file names created with
any ASCII text editor. To do this type:
download @fonts.lst 10
This instructs the program to find the disk file "fonts.lst".
This file is assumed to contain a list of font file names to send
to the LaserJet. All files will be sent in the order they appear
in the list. For example, if the file "fonts.lst" looks as
follows:
he100rpn.usp
he100bpn.usp
he100ipn.usp
he180bpn.usp
he300bpn.usp
then the command "download @fonts.lst 10" will load all five
fonts to your LaserJet through LPT1. The "he100rpn.usp" font
will be assigned font ID 10 and loaded first. Font
"he100bpn.usp" will be loaded next with font ID 11. This process
will continue sequentially until font "he300bpn.usp" is sent to
the printer as font ID 14. All fonts will be assigned permanent
status. The screen will look as follows after the downloading
process is finished:
Send soft fonts to a LaserJet or DeskJet printer, V1.8
Copyright 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 by Elfring Soft Fonts
Sending font he100rpn.usp with ID 0, 12427 bytes
Sending font he100bpn.usp with ID 1, 18834 bytes
Sending font he100ipn.usp with ID 2, 33754 bytes
Sending font he180bpn.usp with ID 3, 48531 bytes
Sending font he300bpn.usp with ID 4, 68929 bytes
Sent 5 files, with a total of 133944 bytes.
For a more detailed explanation of soft font ID numbers, and font
status see you LaserJet user's manual.
Another useful option is the "D" command. This command lets you
delete all soft fonts resident in your laser printer prior to
downloading. For example, if you have limited font memory you
can lose track of how many fonts have been sent to the laser
printer. Rather than blindly sending more fonts, (which can
result in a "20" error), you can tell DOWNLOAD to delete all soft
fonts first, and then send the new fonts to the printer.
- 5 -
download @batch.lst 1 -d
Finally, the "quiet" option lets you disable much of the screen
output from DOWNLOAD. This is particularly useful with batch
files since you are probably not interested in file statistics
when downloading a batch of files. To use the quiet option you
would type:
download @batch.lst 1000 -qt
This would result in the following display:
Send soft fonts to a LaserJet or DeskJet printer, V1.8
Copyright 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 by Elfring Soft Fonts
Note that the "-t" option used above would give all soft fonts
listed above "temporary" status. They would automatically be
erased after the first reset command is sent the the laser
printer.
5 ERROR MESSAGES
DOWNLOAD automatically checks the status of your laser printer
before sending anything to it. If the printer is off, not
connected, deselected, or out of paper DOWNLOAD will display an
error message. For example, if your printer was out of paper you
would see:
download cp300rpn.usp
Send soft fonts to a LaserJet or DeskJet printer, V1.8
Copyright 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 by Elfring Soft Fonts
Sending font cp300rpn.usp with ID 0
Printer I/O error
Printer out of paper
Abort, Retry, Ignore?
Answer with the appropriate letter (A/R/I) followed by a carriage
return. This process lets you select the printer or add more
paper to correct the problem.
6 COMMON PROBLEMS
1. MY LASER PRINTER WORKS FINE NORMALLY. HOWEVER, WHEN I USE
DOWNLOAD TO SEND A SOFT FONT TO IT THE FONT IS GARBLED,
DOESN'T APPEAR, OR WEIRD THINGS HAPPEN.
This is a common problem and is almost certainly due to
bad hardware! When a soft font is downloaded your printer
will be receiving data at the maximum possible speed. If
you do not have a printer cable that meets minimum
- 6 -
specifications, or if your parallel printer port is
marginal the problems mentioned above may occur. For the
record: your parallel printer port cable should be 6 feet
long or less and made of quality materials. You should NOT
have a switch box in series with this cable! If your
cable is OK try switching to a different parallel port.
These ports are easy to damage with static electricity.
They may appear to work- but they fail during high speed
transfers.
2. I DOWNLOAD A SOFT FONT AND MAKE IT MY PRIMARY FONT, JUST
AS YOUR MANUAL SAYS. IF I COPY FILES TO THE PRINTER THEY
PRINT IN THAT FONT. IF I USE MY WORD PROCESSOR I ALWAYS
SEEM TO RETURN BACK TO MY DEFAULT INTERNAL FONT (COURIER).
The first thing a word processor does, (before printing
anything), is to reset the printer. Resetting a laser
printer (or the DeskJet) automatically causes the printer
to return back to the default font, (Courier). The only
practical way around this problem is to provide the word
processor with a printer driver that tells it how to use
soft fonts.
3. WHEN DOWNLOADING A NUMBER OF SOFT FONTS MY PRINTER STOPS
WORKING AND DISPLAYS A FLASHING "20" ON THE LCD DISPLAY.
Congratulations, you have run out of memory in your
printer. If you are sending new fonts to the printer try
deleting the old ones before sending the new ones. (-D
option in Download) If the problem occurs regularly you
should start looking for a 1 meg memory add on board.
4. THE SOFT FONT ID NUMBERS I ASSIGN WITH DOWNLOAD DO NOT
MATCH THE NUMBERS SHOWN ON MY SAMPLE FONT PRINT SHEET.
The Soft Font ID numbers assigned by DOWNLOAD can be used
to select soft fonts. However, these ID numbers have NO
relationship to the numbers displayed on a font print
sheet. Font print sheet numbers always start at 1 and go
up. Soft font ID numbers can range from 0 - 65,535. There
is no way to display a Soft Font ID number on a print
sheet. Ignore the numbers shown on these sheets.
7 USING DOWNLOAD WITH GRAB
To use DOWNLOAD and any of these three fonts with GRAB you must
first configure GRAB to select one of these soft fonts. Next
install GRAB, and then you MUST download the soft font to your
laser or DeskJet printer. You are now set to print envelopes in
a proportionally spaced soft font. Remember that order:
configure, install, download, and print.
- 7 -
Sounds simple so far? Well it really is. Just chose between the
three fonts supplied with DOWNLOAD. The Helv font is a sans
serif font that resembles Helvetica. The Roman font resembles
Times Roman. The Park Ave font is a script type of font. Pick
the one you like best and then fire up the GRAB configuration
program.
Perform a normal installation of GRAB for your printer. (You
must pick a laser printer or DeskJet type and printer port!)
Once everything is configured move the to the "Printer
configuration menu". From there select "LaserJet init fonts".
You must now enter a font selection sequence. The sequences for
the Roman, Park Ave, and the Helv fonts are shown below. Enter
the appropriate sequence for the font you have chosen.
Note that there are two different ways to select a soft font. The
short method selects soft fonts by the ID numbers that are
assigned to each font as it is downloaded. The disadvantage of
using the ID selection method is that you MUST always download a
given soft font with the same ID number. The advantages to this
method are that it is easy to enter the selection string, and you
can switch fonts just by downloading a different soft font with
the same ID number!
You can also select soft fonts by "font metrics". This is a long
complicated string that tells your printer EXACTLY what font to
use. This method is more reliable than the ID method since it
does not depend on the way you downloaded the font.
Unfortunately, this method requires a very long command string
and will not let you switch between fonts. We recommend using the
soft font ID select technique described above.
You may now move to the locations menu and change the location
information. Proportionally spaced fonts look different and you
may want to shift the position of your return address or the
envelope address slightly. Note this is not really necessary. Try
a sample envelope out to see how you like the result.
Finally, save this configuration! Always remember to download
the appropriate soft font to your laser printer BEFORE attempting
to print an envelope.
Here are the escape sequences to select each of these soft fonts.
Note that <Esc> stands for the escape key. Remember there are TWO
(2) different ways to select soft font. You may select them by
soft font ID number or by font metrics. The font ID number is
shorter and allows you to change fonts, but less reliable. Both
methods are shown below. Pick one way and use it consistently.
The table below shows the proper DOWNLOAD command, and the ASCII
string required by GRAB.
LASERJET soft fonts
Roman
- 8 -
/ download tr120rpn.usl 523
by ID < <Esc>(523X
by / download tr120rpn.usl
metrics < <Esc>(0U<Esc>(s1p12v0s0b5T
========================================================================
Helv
/ download hv120rpn.usl 524
by ID < <Esc>(524X
by / download hv120rpn.usl
metrics < <Esc>(0U<Esc>(s1p12v0s0b4T
========================================================================
Park Ave.
/ download pk120rpn.usl 525
by ID < <Esc>(525X
by / download pk120rpn.usl
metrics < <Esc>(0U<Esc>(s1p12v0s0b59T
========================================================================
DESKJET soft fonts
Roman
/ download ro120rpn.djp 501
by ID < <Esc>(501X
by / download ro120rpn.djp
metrics < <Esc>(0U<Esc>(s1p12v0s0b5t2Q
============================================================================
- 9 -
Helv
/ download he120rpn.djp 502
by ID < <Esc>(502X
by / download he120rpn.djp
metrics < <Esc>(0U<Esc>(s1p12v0s0b5t2Q
============================================================================
Park Ave.
/ download pk120rpn.djp 503
by ID < <Esc>(503X
by / download pk120rpn.djp
metrics < <Esc>(0U<Esc>(s1p12v0s0b59t2Q
===============================================================================
Note that if you plan on switching between soft fonts you must
con figure GRAB to accept ONE soft font ID number. You then
download different soft fonts with the same ID number! For
example, if you configure GRAB to select soft font ID number 501
(<Esc>(501X) then:
download tr120rpn.usp 501 - picks Times Roman
download hv120rpn.usl 501 - picks Helvetica
download pk120rpn.usl 501 - picks Park Ave.
8 LICENSE AND OTHER INFORMATION
Users of this package must accept this disclaimer of warranty:
"These programs and fonts are supplied as is. The author
disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including,
without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of
fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for
damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use
of these software programs and fonts."
This package is a "shareware program" and is provided at no
charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with
your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part
of another system. The essence of "user-supported" software is
to provide personal computer users with quality software without
high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to
continue to develop new products. If you find this program
useful and you continue to use these fonts or utilities after a
trial period of 21 days, you must make a registration payment of
$15.00 to Elfring Soft Fonts. The $15.00 registration fee will
license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time.
You must treat this software just like a book. An example is
that this software may be used by any number of people and may be
freely moved from one computer location to another, so long as
- 10 -
there is no possibility of it being used at one location while
it's being used at another. Just as a book cannot be read by two
different persons at the same time.
Commercial or business users of this package must register and
pay for their copies of this package within 10 days of first use
or their license is withdrawn. Site-License arrangements may be
made by contacting Elfring Soft Fonts. Please distribute this
package intact! This program and all documentation are Copyright
1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 by Elfring Soft Fonts. All rights are
reserved.
Anyone distributing this package for any kind of remuneration
must first contact Elfring Soft Fonts at the address below for
authorization. This authorization will be automatically granted
to distributors recognized by the (ASP) as adhering to its
guidelines for shareware distributors, and such distributors may
begin offering this package immediately, (however Elfring Soft
Fonts must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept
up-to-date with the latest version of this package).
You are encouraged to pass a copy of this package along to your
friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their
copy if they find that they can use it. We will also send them
an information packet that describes other software available
from Gary Elfring and Elfring Soft Fonts.
Member ASP (Association of Shareware Professionals)
Gary Elfring is a Member of The Association of Shareware
Professionals (ASP). ASP has established stringent standards for
its members. ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle
works for you. If you are unable to resolve a problem with an
ASP member (other than technical support), ASP may be able to
help. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at P.O. Box 5786,
Bellevue, WA 98006 or send a Compuserve message via easyplex to
ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536.
If you like this companion program for GRAB tell your friends!
If you don't like them tell us why! To keep prices on products
like this as low as they are we cannot afford to advertise. You
are our form of advertisement! Tell your friends. If you have
the opportunity to write an article in a newsletter or a trade
magazine and like this package spread the word! We need all of
the help we can get to put quality software into the users hands
without charging inflated prices!
If you do write an article about this package we would appreciate
hearing from you.
Other collections of fonts are available. I offer a large number
of different downloadable fonts including Roman, Helv, Century,
Century Legal, Rockford, Broadway, Script, Square, Flourish, Old
English, University, Courier, Line Draw, Prestige, Letter Gothic,
- 11 -
Dot Matrix, Spreadsheet fonts, Symbol Sets, Park Ave, Basker, &
Palatine for both laser printers and the DeskJet or DeskJet Plus.
If you don't see the font you are looking for, call or write me.
I am always creating new fonts. I also do inexpensive custom
fonts. In addition I have a number of soft font utility programs
including: download- send and select fonts to a LaserJet or
DeskJet, dispfont- display a sample sheet of a soft font, and TSR
DOWNLOAD- memory resident soft font downloader + more! An
interactive easy to use soft font management program. For more
information on these inexpensive downloadable soft fonts for your
LaserJet or DeskJet contact me at the address listed below.
Finally- special installation kits are available for DeskJet soft
fonts and WordStar 5.5C.
Elfring Soft Fonts
P.O. Box 61
Wasco, IL 60183
708-377-3520
CIS: 72417,3437
- 12 -
9 SHAREWARE REGISTRATION FORM
To register this copy of Download plus Grab fonts, to be eligible
for support, and to receive a copy of our LaserJet font brochure,
please fill out the following form, and mail it along with a
check for $15.00 to:
Elfring Soft Fonts
P.O. Box 61
Wasco, Illinois 60183
708-377-3520
(9:00 AM - 5:00 PM CST)
CIS: 72417,3437
Illinois residents must add 6.5% sales tax ($.98). Thus all
orders from Illinois must include $15.98. Make all checks payable
to: Elfring Soft Fonts. Payment must be made in US dollars drawn
on a US bank, VISA, or MC.
Please register my GRAB companion package- Download + fonts.
Name: _________________________________________
Address: _________________________________________
Address: _________________________________________
City, State, Zip: _________________________________________
Comments: _________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
Source of software: ______________________________________
[ ] Please send me my free CompuServe membership and $15 access
credit
Word Processor: [ ] Word Perfect, [ ] Word, [ ] PC Write [ ]
WS5.5 Printer: [ ] LaserJet+, [ ] LaserJet II, [ ] LaserJet
IIP, [ ] Compatible
- 13 -